Infrastructure improvements are needed throughout the state, and candidates in the 3rd Congressional District are talking about how voters can get their fair share.

President Barack Obama has lobbied for years to create a stimulus package to improve the nation’s aging infrastructure, something both candidates in New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District fundamentally agree on.

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Democratic incumbent Ben Ray Lujan said infrastructure across New Mexico and America is critically important.

“I don't have to tell you if you travel the roads and bridges in New Mexico to see how bad shape they're in; we need to get some investment made,” he said.

Republican challenger Jefferson Byrd said it is clear money needs to be spent judiciously.

“We need to be doing maintenance and upkeep on our roads and bridges but it needs to be done in a manner that allows the states to spend the money where it is most needed,” Byrd said.

Lujan said like most issues in Washington, D.C., this one is being held up with a clash between parties, in which the GOP is being blamed for putting the brakes on big money road and bridge repairs.

“Sadly, we've seen a bipartisan breakdown in this area when Democrats have proposed to Republicans in the House of Representatives to develop an infrastructure bank that we could even support by bringing back taxes sitting offshore ... dollars we could bring back to fund this bank. They've been reluctant -- they don't want us to move this forward,” he said.

Byrd said putting party politics aside for the good of New Mexicans is a must, and wants states to have the ability to make money decisions in order to make that happen.

“We need the states to have the authority on how that money is spent and where that authority needs to be pushed down (to) the states,” Byrd said.